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Football – Brazil Agrees to Friendly with Columbia to Raise Money for Chapecoenese

Brazil is set to play Colombia in an international friendly match. The game is being played to help raise money for the victims of the plane crash which killed 19 players of Brazilian club Chapecoense as well as 52 other passengers on board.

Brazil has invited Colombia to play a fair-play match next month to raise money for the poor victims of the air crash which killed most of the Champecoenese players, staff, and directors.

Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) has said it will donate close to $1.5million to Champecoenese football club. The Brazilian football club’s dream of playing in the Copa Sudamericana for the first time in their history was left in tatters after the ill-fated plane crash. After reaching the final of the Copa Sudamericana, they were billed to play against Atletico Nacional but that match would never take place as 19 Champecoenese players lost their life while on their way to the first leg of the final against Atletico. Atletico later conceded the championship to Champecoenese and received a fair-play prize for that.

However, the Brazilian Football Confederation, CBF, has also decided to weigh in and offer some succor to bereaved families and victims of the air crash by organizing a fund-raising football friendly. The CBF had fixed a date of 22nd January 2017 for the friendly but that date remains tentative. The friendly match is, however, billed to take place one a week before the start of the Brazilian football season.

A statement attributed to a CBF spokesman reads:

“The idea is that the game will be against Colombia, for all that represents,” the spokesman said, “but we don’t know if they will be able to come because of the dates.

“But a friendly will take place, against someone else if not Colombia, probably on either January 22 or 25.

“The proceeds from the match will be sent to the families of the players, the staff and those involved with Chapecoense who died in the crash.”

Heartfelt condolences and tributes have been pouring in for Champecoenese since the crash. Teams in the Brazilian football league have offered them their players on loan for free, while also deciding that Champecoenese will not be relegated for the next three seasons even if they finish last in those three.